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The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) filed for a 3.4 percent average increase next year for the basic formula that determines standard workers”™ compensation insurance premiums in Connecticut.
In Connecticut and 42 other states, NCCI estimates the cost of workers”™ compensation loss costs, or payments for medical treatment and wages for sidelined workers, with final approval resting with the insurance department.
Some 140 insurance carriers then submit loss-cost rates on more than 600 specific job classifications for approval. In a competitive market like Connecticut, carriers are allowed to vary final premiums based on considerations such as overhead and profits.
Office and clerical workers are the only broad job category to see a decrease in loss costs, at 0.1 percent for standard workers”™ compensation policies.
The catchall “miscellaneous” category, which includes a broad range of jobs from truckers to entertainment venues, would see a 10.8 percent increase.
The state runs an “assigned risk” pool for employers who have difficulty obtaining coverage from insurance carriers. NCCI proposes a 1.2 percent rate change for such policies in 2008, compared with a 0.1 percent decrease last year.
The current filing is the first to get a hearing on the watch of new insurance Commissioner Thomas Sullivan. Last year, former Commissioner Susan Cogswell approved NCCI”™s recommendation that the state reduce standard workers”™ compensation rates 0.9 percent on average.
In 2006, Connecticut had the 14th-highest average premium for workers compensation nationally and the 4th highest in the Northeast, according to a benchmark study published by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services.
In May, NCCI reported that workers”™ compensation carriers had their best underwriting results in 30 years, largely due to improved results in California.
